#JaredLetoasJoker! Warner Bros. confirmed on Tuesday, Dec. 2, that it has lined up an all-star cast for its upcoming DC Comics movie, Suicide Squad, including Oscar winner Jared Leto as The Joker.
Dallas Buyers Club star Leto, 42, is the first actor to play The Joker since 2008, when Heath Ledger portrayed the maniacal character in Christopher Nolan‘s The Dark Knight.
Ledger tragically died in January 2008, from an accidental overdose of prescription medications. He posthumously won a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for his portrayal of The Joker at the 2009 Oscars. Other actors to have previously played The Joker include Jack Nicholson, Hugo Blick, Mark Hamill, Kevin Michael Richardson, and Cesar Romero (who starred as the character in the ’60s TV show Batman.)
Other big-name additions to the supervillain squad include Will Smith, Tom Hardy, Margot Robbie, Jai Courtney, and Cara Delevingne.
Smith will portray Deadshot, a sniper who has bad blood with Batman. Surprisingly, his only superhero-type role previously was in 2008’s Hancock. Hardy, who played treacherous Batman villain Bane in 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises, will this time star as leader of the Suicide Squad Rick Flagg.
Wolf of Wall Street actress Robbie was confirmed last month to play Harley Quinn — The Joker’s love interest and henchwoman. This will be her second film with Smith; the stars will appear together in 2015 drama Focus.
Divergent actor Courtney will portray Captain Boomerang, the mortal enemy of the Flash, while supermodel Delevingne is slated to star as The Enchantress.
The film will be directed by David Ayer, who worked arduously alongside Brad Pitt and Shia LaBeouf in 2014 war movie Fury.
Suicide Squad is set for release on Aug. 5, 2016, several months after Zack Snyder‘s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice — starring Ben Affleck as the caped crusader and Henry Cavill as Clark Kent — hits theaters in March of that year.
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